The Republican Party has grown "stale and moss-covered" and needs a fresh direction, said Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican Senator from Kentucky, on Thursday. In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Paul said Republicans should pay attention to the "Facebook generation" that wants to decriminalize drug use and opposes bank bailouts. Paul said the Republican Party must advocate economic opportunity. "We need a Republican Party that shows up on the south side of Chicago and shouts at the top of our lungs, we are the party of jobs and opportunity. The GOP is the ticket to the middle-class," he said. Paul said he will present a plan to balance the federal budget in five years with a flat tax and a reduction in the corporate tax rate. Paul's popularity has grown after he held the Senate floor in an almost 13 hour-long filibuster last week opposing the White House's drone program. CPAC will release a closely-watched presidential straw poll on Saturday. Paul and 22 other names are on the list of hopefuls to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2016.